Easy Cheesy 'Taters

Right about now you may all be looking for new ideas for Thanksgiving side dishes. Here is one from WCA member Mike O'Neil (aka Boreegard).

Bo’s Easy Cheesy ‘Tater Casserole


2 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced.
4 tbsp. flour, 2 tbsp. dried parsley, 1 tbsp. minced garlic mixed together.
1 cup half and half, heated.
¾ cup panco bread crumbs mixed with 2 heaping tbsp. melted butter.
¾ cup grated cheddar cheese.

TO DO

Grease a 2 quart casserole pan.
Boil potatoes in salted water until barely soft—around 10 minutes.
Drain quickly and place potatoes in pan.
Spread flour/ herb mixture on potatoes and mix well.
Pour heated half and half on potatoes and mix well.
Cover with buttered breadcrumbs.
Sprinkle cheese on top evenly.
Bake in preheated 375 degree oven until browned on top (20 to 30 minutes).


Will feed up to six hungry people nicely.

Testament:  She Who Must Be Obeyed raved over it.  So might you too, bunky.


Boreegard
November, 2015

Rebecca Miller Ffrench's Newest Cookbook

Here is something great to order and use while we are waiting out the last gasps of winter. WCA member, Rebecca Miller Ffrench has written another awesome cookbook. This one is called the Ultimate Blender Cookbook. It has all kinds of great recipes. From healthy drinks to blender burgers and scrumptious desserts, this book has all kinds of great culinary ideas. It even has lemon squares, one of my personal favorites!

It is easy to order the book. Just go to the link below on Amazon and you can get it delivered pronto. You won't be sorry! Thanks for bringing us all these wonderful recipes, Rebecca! Bon appetite, everyone!

http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Blender-Cookbook-Healthy-Recipes/dp/1581572956/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425916850&sr=8-1&keywords=rebecca+miller+ffrench

Boreegard's Vichyssoise

WCA member Mike O'Neil aka Boreegard sent me this recently. I thought I would pass it on so you all can enjoy it!


A HERETICAL VICHYSSOISE

This chilled, smooth, potato and leek soup is a delicious way to counter the summer heat.  It was my father's favorite, and is fairly easy to make.  It adds a touch of class to the table.  It was originated in America (not France), by Louis Diat , chef at the Ritz Hotel in New York, either in 1910 or 1917.  If you want to appear in the know (and in fact to be in the know), this admonition by Craig Claiborne in his THE NEW YORK TIMES COOK BOOK will be your ticket:

Someone should start a campaign to instruct Americans that vichyssoise is not pronounced veeshy-swah!  Because this creation of the late Louis Diat has become a national favorite, it seems only just that the final consonant be sounded.  It is veeshee-swaze.

In my version below, you will see that I have committed heresy.  I have substituted that wonderfully sweet onion from Vidalia, Georgia (the Vidalia) for the traditional leek. Louis Diat had no access to this fairly new allium, but if he had, perhaps he would have tried it too.  Necessity being the mother of invention, when I most recently made vichyssoise there were no leeks to be had—thus the substitution.  Vidalia is a noble replacement indeed, and is much easier to deal with in preparation (no worries about washing grit from between its leaves).

INGREDIENTS

o  two large or three medium Vidalia onions, chopped.
o  one small red onion, chopped.
o  four tablespoons butter.
o  five medium potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly.
o  one quart chicken stock.
o  one teaspoon salt.
o  three cups milk.
o  one cup half and half.
o  one cup heavy cream.

WHAT TO DO

o  In a large pot, add onions, butter, potatoes, chicken stock, salt.  Bring to boil and then simmer until tender (about 25 to 30 minutes).
o  Puree in a blender or food processor.
o  Return mixture to pot, add the milk and briefly bring to boil.
Cool and add the half and half and cream.
o  Chill thoroughly in refrigerator (James Beard has you do this for 24 hours, but you can cheat by putting it in your freezer for an hour or two, and then transferring it to the fridge).
o  Serve with a garnish of chopped chives.

                                                                                 Boreegard  

Corn Pudding From Aileen Schwartz

Last week, after the Dershowitz party, Aileen Schwartz sent me this message. Apparently, she brought her corn pudding to the gathering and 5 different people asked her for the recipe. So she thought she would pass it on to all. Here is what Aileen had to say about the dish.

Happy Thursday.
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Below is the recipe for Corn Pudding. I doubled the recipe for the party. Enjoy!

Aileen

Corn Pudding

1 stick softened margarine
2 eggs beaten
1 can creamed corn
1 can corn niblets
8 oz sour cream
1 box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix


Heat oven at 350 degrees. Mix together well, margarine, eggs, cans of corn and sour cream. Add Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix and stir all together. Pour into baking dish. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Serves 8. Enjoy.

Curry of Shrimp A La Boreegard

Here is a great recipe and it's back story from WCA member Mike O'Neil aka Boreegard (troutmeister, poet, chef, blog contributor, man about town). Thanks for sharing, Bo!

Curry of Shrimp

In its unobtrusive way Curry of Shrimp has been the signal meal of our married life.  I know the exact date and place I first had it, because life as I knew it was about to change utterly the next day.  Jeanne and I were in the Krafft Hotel situated on the banks of the Rhine in the Suisse Canton/Village of Basel.  It was a cold cloudy Monday evening—February 21, 1966—and it was the last evening meal I would ever have as a bachelor.  The next morning we marched up to the town hall (on Tuesdays they married Americans).  There a woman magistrate performed the civil ceremony that would make us all legal.  There were six couples, and as a matter of thrift and convenience she laid it on us all together.  “You are now married peoples,” I remember her saying at the end of a strict officially delivered set of words.  It was somewhat like the pledge I was required to take when I joined the Army in that at one point we were instructed to raise our right hands and repeat some sort of oath as well.

I digress.  The curry to which I refer did not have shrimp.  It had scampi—shrimp’s second cousin once removed.  And I’m sure the recipe that I give you here is not an exact replica of what we enjoyed that evening—but it’s close, and we own it in our hearts.

                                                                       Boreegard


Ingredients

1/3 cup butter
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced and chopped
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1 cup (or more) sour cream
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
¾ tsp salt
dash chili powder
2 tsp. curry powder
½ tsp. ground ginger
ground black pepper to taste
1 pound cleaned cooked shrimp


TO DO

In a pan, melt butter—sauté onion, garlic, pepper until soft.

Stir in sour cream, lemon juice, and spices.  Heat, stirring occasionally, until it’s hot (but not boiling).

Add shrimp and stir until just heated.  You are warming this, not cooking it now.

Serve over rice.

Serve with traditional side condiments such as toasted slivered almonds (a must), shredded coconut, chutney, sliced ripe mango, raisins, orange slice, pineapple—and such.

Serves 4.  Dang good.

The Shankmeister's Recipe

MIke O'Neil aka Boreegard aka The Shankmeister sent me this message with his treatment of lamb shanks. While like Bo's wife, lamb is not for me, I thought some of you out there might be interested. Here is what Bo had to say.

In the late winter of 1996 I took the train from Hartford down to the Big Apple to spend a few days with The Reverend Doctor Eugene Sawicki, R.N. in the rectory of the most venerated Lithuanian Roman Catholic church this side of the Hudson—Our Lady of Vilnius. Back in the 60’s Eugene, or rather I should say Father Eugene, and I had survived each other’s company through Military Police School in Disgusta (uhm—Augusta), Georgia, and then were stationed together in Frankfurt am/Main in a small MP detachment guarding the U.S. Army 97th General Hospital.  Hitler had built it back in ’39 for his luftwaffe, but by then it had been ours much longer than it had been his. He (Sawicki, not Hitler) played the organ at our wedding and eventually became Godfather to two of our three children—though I doubt that he remembers just which ones).  By ’96, Eugene had become a priest, and I finally took up his invitation to visit him and his lordly orange cat Jellybean. It was a cold bleak Ash Wednesday and for dinner that evening Gene took me to the warm L’ECOLE—the busy French Culinary Institute at 462 Broadway and Grand Street (SOHO).  We both broke whatever inclination we might have had towards fasting for Lent. It is there that student chefs ply their new learned trade, and the prices are reasonable.  Their main offering that evening was braised lamb shank in a bed of polenta.  The meat fairly melted in one’s mouth.  One way or another I have tried to recreate that meal over the years. It has seen six or seven revisions, and I’m sure this current one bears little resemblance to the original. However, the meat WILL melt in your mouth.

ATTENCION: What you see below is essentially a recipe for one person. Since my wife abhors lamb, I prepare it for myself, when of an evening she is meeting with the lady’s book club or some such other.  Up to a point, you should multiply everything by the number of people you intend to feed.

INGREDIENTS

Group 1
· 1 lamb shank (about a pound).
· 3 tbsp olive oil
· ½ cup chopped onion
· 3 garlic cloves chopped
· 1 large stalk of celery chopped
· 1 bay leaf
· ¾ tablespoon dried rosemary
· 1 cup beef broth
· ½ cup red wine
· 2 roma plum tomatoes, chopped
· ½ bell pepper, chopped

Group 2
· 6 ounces sliced mushrooms
· 1/3 cup of pearl barley
· some spinach

Group 3
· 1 medium carrot, chopped and quartered
· a handful of pimento stuffed green olives, sliced in half and a teaspoon of the vinegar in which they were stored.

TO DO

· Dredge lamb in flour and in a frying pan brown in oil.  Add garlic, celery, onion, bell pepper and sauté.
· Add the rest of group 1 and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes to an hour.
· Add group 2 and continue simmering for 45 minutes.
· Add group 3 and simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve with boiled potato or some warm fresh-baked bread.  I prefer putting it all in a large bowl.  But a plate will serve just as well.


                                                        The Shankmeister—Boreegard

                                                         

Boreegard Shares HIs Pea Soup Recipe

Ken Hawley Botchford prepared a steak dinner for his visiting brother Henry and assorted guests recently (huge 4 inch thick hunks of beef, grilled rare and slathered in butter), that prompted me to prepare split pea soup.  The Botchford steak was reminiscent of the annual Beefsteak dinners served at the Roxmor Inn down the valley road by the Miller family ever since the 1890's, which always featured (and still do) a first course of peas porridge hot, simmered all day in 2 industrial sized caldrons.

My intention was to approximate that marvelous soup, and I believe I did.  Here's how you might do it too.

o  Rinse 1 lb. of split peas and place in a large pot.
o  Cover with 10 cups of water.
o  Add the smoked pork ribs you'd liberated from the previous month's pig roast (or failing that, add a reasonable facsimile--several smoked ham hocks, or a hambone).
o  cover and simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours--stirring occasionally.

Then, add:

o 1 cup chopped onion.
o  1 cup chopped celery.
o  1 cup chopped carrots
o  1 large jalapeno pepper--cored, deseeded, and finely chopped.
o  2 large cloves of garlic--minced and chopped
o  1 bay leaf.

o  Simmer, covered, for 1/2 hour.
o  Remove bones, meat, bayleaf, and set aside.
o  Puree 1/2 of the soup in a food processor and return to pot.
o  Dice the meat and return to pot.  Stir until hot.
o  Add salt and pepper to taste (this is a very dull soup indeed without a bit of salt added).

SERVE.

Boreegard
August 14, 2012

Bo's Corn Chowder

Here is another great recipe from Boreegard (aka Mike O'Neil). 


It  occurred to me that, rather than ignoring the three leftover ears of corn that I had consigned to the fridge—from whence they would be ignored for a week, grow fine beards of penicillin and thence be re-consigned to the compost heap—I could use them to make a chowder.

 This I did.  Here’s how you might do the same.  Es muy deliciouso, and it’s a fine way to use the extra corn that will almost certainly crowd your summer larder.

Ingredients

4 strips of bacon.

1 tablespoon butter.

A medium onion—chopped.

½ a jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced.

Kernels from 3 or 4 ears of corn (approximately 2 cups).

The stripped cobs.

2 medium potatoes—peeled and chopped into ¼ slices.

2 cups chicken stock.

2 cups milk.

1 bay leaf.

Salt and pepper to taste.

½ cup heavy cream or half and half.

To Do

In a large non-stick frying pan or pot—

Fry bacon until crisp.  Remove and save.

Retain two tablespoons of bacon fat in the pan and add butter.

On low heat, cook onion and jalapeno until tender.

Add potatoes, corn COBs, bay leaf, salt and pepper, stock and milk—bring to boil.

Lower heat and cover.  Simmer until potatoes are tender—10 to 15 minutes.

Remove the cobs.

Add corn kernels and simmer for about 5 minutes.

With a slotted spoon, remove 1 ½  cups of solids and puree.  Return to soup.

Add the bacon, which you’ve crushed to smithereens.

Add cream or half and half.

Warm—serve.

4 to 6 servings.

Boreegard

June 15, 2012

Release of Sweet Home

Yesterday, April 16th, was official release of Sweet Home: Over 100 Heritage Desserts and Ideas for Preserving Family Recipes, a cookbook written by Woodland Valley resident Rebecca Miller Ffrench and photographed by fellow Woodland Valley resident Philip Ficks. Peter Occolowitz (a THIRD Woodland Valley resident) assisted on the book.

The cookbook was inspired by a recipe journal that belonged to Rebecca’s great-grandmother. The tattered pages of the journal began an entire dialogue between Rebecca and her grandmother about their family heritage—and thus a whole journey began.

To learn more about the book, watch the Sweet Home video (http://vimeo.com/37533785) or go to sweethomecookbook.com.























There are scrumptious dessert recipes in the book for every occasion, and Philip Ficks’ stunning photographs will make your mouth water as you turn every page.

Rebecca also blogs about food and family at sweet-home.com.

Sweet Home is available for purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and IndieBound.

There will also be a Sweet Home Book Signing and Sweet Tasting at Tenderland Home on May 19th from 3 to 7pm. All proceeds will benefit the Phoenicia Library.



Photo Credits: Above photos Philip Ficks, bottom photo Carol Seitz

Boreegard's Easter Ham Gravy

Mike O'Neil (aka Boreegard), official food columnist for the WV blog has sent me another fine offering for your consideration. Read on:

Bo’s Easter Ham Gravy

Though there were only three of us for Easter dinner this year, I found it impossible not to take advantage of Big Y’s bargain price for their generic smoked butt end ham—98 cents a pound. So I lugged home the smallest one I could find in the bin—around eight pounds. The result, after a proper baking, was a pan with inviting scrapings and drippings begging to be turned into gravy while the meat rested on the sideboard. Here’s how I went about it.

INGREDIENTS

Pan drippings
4 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon dried minced garlic
1 teaspoon paprika
Ground pepper to taste
2 cups heated chicken stock

TO DO

Heat baking pan and drippings on stove over medium heat.
Stir flour into drippings—scrape and stir until flour is fully integrated.
Add garlic, paprika, pepper.
Slowly add chicken stock and stir slowly until it becomes a fine brown—well—gravy.

I didn’t add salt, feeling that the ham drippings were salty enough in their own right. You may want to. Also, feel free to add herbs for your own signature taste (dill weed, thyme, or marjoram come to mind).

By the by—Ben Franklin’s reported definition of Eternity—two people and a ham, also works for three people and a ham.

Boreegard
April 10, 2012

Boreegard Rassles With Red Cabbage

Our faithful Woodland Valley View food columnist (he is one of the only people who send me recipes) Mike O'Neil (aka Boreegard) sent me this message earlier in the week. I can't wait to try and make this dish! Read on for Red Cabbage Boreegard style.


Well Huck Honey, there comes a time when to compliment a perfect piece of pork, you MUST do something with red cabbage. I see by my voluminous kitchen notes that on December 23, 2001 I did indeed do something.

I quote:

I served red cabbage this evening along with my stuffed acorn squash and a brined two pound pork tenderloin. The recipients, at a Christmas set table—a beautiful creation of Jeanne’s—were Tim, Karen, Kelly, Dan, Stelious, Jeanne, and me. Griff and Julia were also there and at the end of the meal were cradled, hugged, held, and photographed again and again.

INGREDIENTS

A medium head of red cabbage (about two pounds)
1 medium onion, sliced and chopped.
A large sweet apple, sliced and chopped.
4 slices of bacon, fried to a brown crisp, crunched up, save the drippings.
½ cup of apple vinegar
1 bottle of Ballantine 3 ring ale (XXX)
3 tbsp. honey (preferably Oberbeck’s)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp caraway seeds

TO DO

In a kind, large fry pan or pot, fry bacon to a brown crisp. Remove, and save two tbsp bacon fat. Take pan off heat.

Place cabbage, onions, vinegar, salt, pepper in the pan/pot and allow them to get together. Stir this mix from time to time for about 15 minutes. What you’re doing, Honey, is allowing the cabbage to keep its vibrant redness, by the vinegar soak. Otherwise, it will come out a disgusting pukey color that even Wendy de Austin would rather not describe in polite Texas society.

Add ale ,bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer. Add apples, bacon, butter. Cover. Stir every once and a while. Continue this for at least an hour and a half, maybe longer—red cabbage is a tough mother and needs to be beaten into submission.

Eventually, uncover, and reduce liquid to a minimum. It should stop looking like soup, and look more like something you’d want to put on your plate, or in your bowl.

Boreegard March 29, 2012

Boreegard Gooses Chicken Paprika

Here is another fabulous recipe from Boreegard aka Mike O'Neil

The only vegetable you’ll find in most classic recipes for chicken paprika is sliced onion; though the more daring ones may have you add a little chopped garlic as well. With all that delicious simmering stock, the cook would be remiss if he or she did not add other items from nature’s cornucopia as well. As you’ll see, that’s just what I have done, to good effect if I do say so myself. I admit, the recipe is a little busy, but it’s worth it. I salivate just thinking about the end product.

INGREDIENTS

Two tablespoons butter and two tablespoons olive oil.
A medium onion sliced thinly.
3 cloves of garlic, minced and chopped.
½ a jalapeno pepper, de-seeded and chopped.
A pound of hot Italian sausage, cut into ½ inch portions.
A small fryer chicken, brined and cut in pieces.
4 tablespoons flour.
2 cups chicken stock.
½ pound mushrooms sliced thinly.
A small zucchini –sliced and diced.
A large horse carrot—sliced and diced.
A small parsnip—sliced and diced.
A tomato—sliced and diced.
1 bay leaf.
¼ cup sweet Hungarian paprika.
1 tsp. salt.
Ground pepper to taste.
Fresh lemon zest and a teaspoon or so of lemon juice.
1 to 1 ½ cups sour cream.

TO DO

In a large frying pan:

Heat butter and oil.
Brown sausage and chicken parts and then remove.
Sautee onions, garlic, peppers until limp.
Add flour and mix.
Add stock, chicken (except the breast), and the rest of the ingredients (except for the sour cream and lemon juice).
Bring to boil, then lower heat to slow simmer and cover frying pan.
Let simmer slowly for ten minutes.
Add white meat, cover, and simmer 12 minutes more.
Remove chicken.
Add sour cream, lemon zest and lemon juice and heat slowly until just on the verge of bubbling.
Return the chicken and stir till all is warm. The stock should be fairly thick at this point. If it isn’t add more flour.

Goes nicely with rice, noodles, or spatzle.

Serves four to six.

Boreegard's Tomato Soup

I got this message (including the recipe) from Boreegard (aka Mike O'Neil) a few days ago. Here is what he had to say:

Boreegard uses some of his fall tomatoes
(Is it soup yet?)

The start of fall is upon us, and happily we are blessed with a plethora of beautiful ripe tomatoes. Last year the neighborhood deer herd had eaten not only our tomatoes, but the plants—right down to the ground. This year Bambi seems satisfied consuming just the hostas. Go figure.

Here’s how I used 3 pounds of the ‘maters last night. SOUP—beautiful, prize winning soup. I freely admit borrowing the outline of the recipe from Marian Morash’s marvelous VICTORY GARDEN COOKBOOK. Thank you Mrs. Morash, wherever you are.

Ingredients

3 lb. ripe tomatoes
½ cup chopped onions
½ cup chopped carrots
2 TB butter
2 TB oil
1 TB chopped garlic
1 TB tomato paste
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
Ground pepper
2 cups chicken broth
3 TBSP rice
½ cup heavy cream

TO DO

Cut washed tomatoes into slices or chunks
Slowly cook the onions and carrots in the butter and oil until they are limp.
Add tomatoes—cover pan—and cook for 5 minutes.
Add garlic, tomato paste, bay leaf, sugar, salt, pepper.
Cover and simmer slowly for 15 minutes. Stir once and awhile.
Add broth and rice—bring to a boil—then simmer, covered, for 15 or 20 minutes.
Add heavy cream; stir until it’s hot, but not boiling.

Makes 5 or 6 cups.

Garlic bread goes well with it.

Boreegard
September 25, 2011

Bo's Midsummer Night's Potato Salad

Once again Boreegard has provided us with an excellent recipe. Here is is what Bo had to say on the proper handling of spuds.

Prologue: Jeanne (Bo's wife, aka She Who Must Be Obeyed), having bought some potato salad at one of our local super duper grocery stores last week, suggested that I should buy some more of it as a complement to tonight's beefsteak and fresh local corn, rather than make my own, considering the terrible muggy heat we've been suffering from this past week. When the Scotsman in me saw the ridiculous high price being charged for this sorry pap, he rebelled, and set about to make his own intimate potato salad (if a potato salad in bulk weighs two pounds or less, I think of it as intimate). As Harry Truman said: heat be damned, especially en la cocina.

Here's how you might make a similar one.

INGREDIENTS

o two pounds fresh bliss potatoes (any potato will do, but bliss redskins have the proper starch density, and do not need to be skinned—the skin becomes a defining and vitamin- laden part of the salad).
o ½ a large sweet onion, chopped (in this case it was a Georgia Vidalia).
o 2 stalks of celery, finely chopped.
o fresh parsley, lettuce, endive, or other greens of similar ilk, chopped finely.
o ½ tsp salt.
o fresh ground pepper
o 1 heaping tbsp. Hellman's light Mayo

LE DRESSING

o 1/8 cup vinegar (in this case apple vinegar)
o 3/8 cup olive oil
o 1 tsp strong mustard
o 1 clove fresh garlic—crushed
o 1 tsp. soy sauce
o several healthy dashes of Louisiana hot sauce

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO WITH ALL THIS
o bring potatoes to boil in a pot, with enough water to cover them. Turn down heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes (to the time that they're just barely done—a fork should just be able to penetrate about 1/6 of an inch).
o in the meantime, chop the veggys required and put aside.
o make the dressing and put in a heat resistant container (pyrex). Put on stove burner at low heat, mixing once and awhile. You want it to be warm.
o when potatoes are done, drain and slice, steaming hot, into ½ inch or so pieces. Place in big bowl and pour warm dressing over. Let sit, and stir from time to time for about a half hour, so that all is joined in a perfection of warm contiguous soak.
o throw whatever's left from above into it and stir gently. Then chill (or not—according to your taste).


THE SECRET

The secret to good potato salad is not much of a secret at all, but it seems so often to be ignored. You must join the warm dressing with the steaming hot cuts of potatoes in that big bowl, and for at least a half hour turn the whole mess with a big spoon from time to time, so as to insure that all the good stuff is soaked into the potatoes. Once you have achieved that, add all the rest of the stuff, mix it slowly with said big spoon, and let sit for at least another hour in the refrigerator, so that the various ingredients might blend properly. Forgive me if I repeat myself.

THE JULIA TEST

In the busy afternoon of this day, mixed with weeding old garden beds, making iced tea, and chasing quick little toddling grandchildren between the raindrops, I set about putting this recipe together in the hot kitchen, as Jeanne ran herd on the little possums [Griffin and Julia]. All ingredients had been assembled in the big bowl, and been stirred the required time, and just needed the final dollop of mayo. I went out to fill the front yard birdfeeder, which an amazing collection of birds had descended upon, and returned to find Grandma Jeanne feeding bits of Bo's tater salad by hand into the maw, the very appreciative maw, of my granddaughter—Julia. "Mo, mo (more, more)," that delightful little gourmand insisted. Very soon we were all enjoying bitsels of it. Yum!

I'm surprised there was any left for dinner.

Boreegard (aka Mike O'Neil)

Sally Overbeck's Lasagna

It looks like another storm is headed for the northeast. Since we may spend another couple of days snow bound, I thought it would be great to share recipe for a dish that would help warm the house as well as fill the stomach. Thanks Sally for sharing!!

SALLY’S TO DIE FOR LASAGNA

(makes enough for 6-8 people)

o 1 ½ lbs of hot Italian sausage, cooked and ground
o 1 big can of tomato paste
o one 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
o 2 to 3 cloves of fresh minced garlic
o 2 T. of anise or fennel seed
o 1/3 cup fresh basil
o one 24 oz. container of small curd cottage cheese
o 2 to 3 eggs
o ½ cup of parmesan cheese
o black pepper
o ½ cup fresh parsley
o 1 lb. of mozzarella cheese, sliced thin or shredded
o enough lasagna pasta to make three layers

Cook the sausage, drain and rinse with water (rinsing is optional, but it cuts down on the fat and doesn't seem to affect the flavor).

Add the fennel or anise seed, any other hot seasoning that you want, tomato paste, and diced tomatoes. simmer for 30 minutes or more.

Add the minced garlic and fresh basil when you're through simmering.

At the same time you can be cooking the pasta, and making the cottage cheese mixture.

Start by stirring the eggs into the cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, parsley and enough pepper to that you can see it when mixed.

Butter a 9x13 inch glass or aluminum pan (I usually make a recipe and a half and use a 10"x 15" pan). Pans of 3 inch depth are preferred. Spread a layer of pasta, then a layer of cottage cheese, then meat sauce, then mozzarella. Layer the pasta in the opposite direction for the second layer and continue. For the last layer, put the mozzarella under the meat sauce because the cheese tends to burn if you leave it on top.

You can cook it right away at 350 degrees for one hour (or longer for larger ones or ones that have been in the fridge). Let sit for 10 or 15 minutes outside of the oven before cutting and serving.

- Sally Oberbeck

Boreegard Confronts Pig Liver

Boreegard aka Mike O'Neil sent me this recipe a while back. Here is what he had to say about it:

SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED is visiting family in Indiana for a few days, so I get to cook things for dinner that she would not enjoy. This is assuredly one of them.

I’d hoped to find calf’s liver in town at one of the food emporiums, but there was none to be had. The only liver I finally found was pig’s liver. Pig’s liver is tender, but has a strong taste, and benefits from a soak in milk for several hours—which I’ve done.

I well recall the New Year’s Eve advice at the Martino’s party that I got from Joe’s Uncle Frankie—a stone mason who made his own wine in his basement and praised the taste of pork liver. “Its’a sweet,” he told me. So in a way I’ve looked forward to tonight’s cooking for over 25 years.

Then it was time to drink another shot of Sambucca and watch Joe do his version of the Tarantella, all the while waving his handkerchief in the air. THE THINGS ONE REMEMBERS!

Elements of this recipe are taken from Gene Leone’s CALF’S LIVER ALA LEONE. Instead of calf, think pig.

PIG’S LIVER A LA BOREEGARD

One and a half pounds of pig’s liver, sliced in half inch slabs.
1 egg beaten
½ cup of panko bread crumbs, some four, some minced garlic.
4 slices bacon
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. oil
Fresh parsley and sage, chopped.
A small onion, chopped.
½ cup cheap sherry
Salt and pepper.

TO DO

In a fry pan, cook the bacon to a crisp. Reserve the bacon and lose most of the fat.

Add butter and oil to the pan.

Bread the egged liver and fry in pan in a hot pan for two or so minutes per side. The liver should be medium rare.

Remove liver to a warmed dish.

Sauté onions and herbs in pan.

Add Sherry to form a sauce. If not thickened to your desire, add a little more flour.

Return liver to pan and warm. Then Serve on delicate pieces of toast, with sauce on top.

Mamma Leonne and Gene would approve of this one I think.


Boreegard
August 14, 2010

Rice And Beans

Boreegard (aka Mike O'Neil) sent me this a few days ago. I can't believe his wonderful timing. I was just looking for a good bean recipe. I am going to try this soon. Thanks Bo!

Bo’s Beans and Rice
(and lots of other stuff too)

This recipe is guided by elements of Wendy Yukem’s “South of the Border Black Beans” which she gave me some years ago. But it departs from it radically—which is just the way these things should happen. You can rip it apart too, darlings. Reinvent and Enjoy.

Tomorrow I will present the Texas contingent of the family with pork, and I must admit that I’m paying much more attention to the frijoles than to the puerco. The tenderloin of porky will almost take care of itself—brined and soaking dark rum deep into its fabric. Tomorrow I will roast piggy slow—and will not over-cook him. 145/150 degrees on the meat thermometer and let pig rest for a bit. (There’s my advice for most all pork, by the way).

Anyway, here’s the way I’ve done the beans (if you can, always do such stewy things the day before—it allows for some chemical magic to take place, and it tastes better as a result). As of tonight, they cause a boy to salivate and beg for just one more helping.

4 pieces of bacon
2 tablespoons olive oil
medium onion chopped
2 jalapenos deseeded and chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
3 roma tomatoes and sauce—cut up
1 tsp. cumin
bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
2 cans Goya black beans
½ red apple, chopped
cheap sherry

In a pot or a frying pan, fry bacon, remove and add oil.
Sautee alium and peppers.
Add tomatoes, bay leaf and cumin.
Cover and braise slowly for 20 minutes.
Uncover; add beans, sherry, fried bacon crushed.

Reduce until it looks and tastes right.
Add apple and the rice/barley stuff you cooked last night
(or a cup of some common cooked rice).

Mix, stir, mix. Put in refrigerator and heat up on the morrow. A dollop of sour cream? Hit don’t need it, but whotthell, whottehell.

- Boreegard

Bo Goes A-Fowl With La King

Here is a interesting Chicken a la King (or Chicken/Turkey a la King, if you prefer) recipe from one of the WCA'a master chefs, Mike O'Neil aka Boreegard.

I first fell in love with this rich, creamy, royal treatment of fowl leftovers at a country dinner in the Catskills put on by Mike and Margaret Lenane for our Roxmor community. This was many years ago, but I remember asking Mike for their fabulous recipe. Somewhat sheepishly he confessed that it was an old standby in the Lenane family and was, in fact, a recipe they had culled from the Good Housekeeping Cookbook. It is a marvelous way to use up leftover turkey or chicken.

INGREDIENTS

6 tbsp. butter or margarine.
½ lb. sliced mushrooms.
¼ cup diced green pepper.
6 tbsp. flour.
3 cups ½ and ½ or a mix of ½ and ½ and heavy cream.
4 cups cubed cooked chicken or turkey.
A 4 oz. jar of pimentos, drained.
2 egg yokes, beaten.
2 tbsp. sherry.
Salt and pepper to taste.
8 warm patty shells or biscuits.

TO DO

In a skillet, melt butter, sauté mushrooms and peppers until soft (five minutes or so).
Stir in flour until blended.
Gradually stir in ½ and ½ and cook until mixture is thickened.
Add chicken & pimentos stirring often until just boiling.
Reduce heat to low, continuing to cook for 5 minutes.
In cup, put egg yolks and add a small amount of hot sauce.
Slowly pour egg yolks back into sauce, stirring constantly, until thickened.
Stir in sherry, salt and pepper. Serve on patty shells.

Boreegard
April 15, 2009

Cream of Pumpkin Soup du Boreegard

I received this the other day from Woodland Valley's own master chef Mike O'Neil.

"Comes the time in autumn when those of us obsessed with pumpkins want to do something different with the Cucurbita pepo harvest. Pies and puddings, breads and roasted seeds are fine and all that, but I am a soup cook as well. In an attempt to create a soup that does NOT taste like pumpkin pie, I present the following":

Ingredients

2 tbsp. butter
1 onion, chopped
1 potato, peeled and chopped
2 cups cooked, pureed pumpkin
2 ½ cups of chicken stock
¾ tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. soy sauce
½ a jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 cup light cream or half and half

To Do

In a large heavy pot, melt the butter and sauté the onion until tender.
Add remaining ingredients, except the cream.
Cover and simmer 25 to 30 minutes.
Transfer mixture to a blender and blend until smooth.
Add cream and reheat, but do not allow to boil.
Garnish with chives and croutons and serve.

SOUP’S ON!

Boreegard aka Mike O'Neil
November 11, 2009

Mike's Favorite Meatloaf

Since we are moving into the cold weather rather quickly this year this recipe sounds like it will both fill the stomach and warm the house. Thanks for sending it to us Bo!!

Boreegard Reconstructs the Old Family Meatloaf

My wife was once the warder and keeper of a medium sized black 3-ring binder full of inexpensive white lined sheets of paper, on which eventually all our early family recipes were written. It was a wonderful hodgepodge of ways to stretch a dollar. You could easily thumb through it and find anything from soup to goulash, to pumpkin pie (both Ed Nuttall’s rum pie and our non-boozy one—oddly, the non-rum one was much nicer), to the mainstay of all American family meals—MEATLOAF.

We had several recipes for meatloaf. My favorite was the one titled MIKE’S FAVORITE MEATLOAF. Go figure.

This venerable compendium eventually collected the stains of use—spatters of butter, drops of gravy, sauces and indiscriminate juices, all long since dried. I always thought of them as honorable proofs of an active kitchen. But the hausfrau of the household was not so sentimental, and noted too that the binding was both cruddy and hanging by a thread. I volunteered to repair it with duct tape, but for some reason that would not do.

Thus began a project to transcribe the holy writ into the mechanical bowels of our computer. Its gut is so deeply mysterious in fact, that we can’t find MIKE’S FAVORITE MEATLOAF, nor any of the rest of them either. Someday we hope to.

But in the meantime, tonight I have put memory to the test, and I give you, as best I can, the reconstructed version of my meatloaf. I vouch that it is very very close to the ancient receipt.

INGREDIENTS

Group A
Half an 8-ounce can of tomato sauce.
One large egg—beaten.
A medium onion—chopped finely.
One cup of bread crumbs.
1-½ pounds of ground beef.
A handful of dried parsley
1 tsp. dried dill weed.
2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese.
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

GROUP B
1-cup beef broth brought to a boil.
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce.
1 tsp. gray poupon mustard.
4 oz. of tomato sauce.
2 tbsp. molasses


TO DO

Combine A. and make into a loaf. Place in an appropriate baking pan or Pyrex dish, and place in a 350-degree oven.

Combine B. and use generously as a basting sauce every 10 or 15 minutes.

Bake for one to one and a half hours.

Let sit for ten or so minutes.

Slice and serve with the mashed potatoes you’ll certainly want as an accompaniment, along with the pan drippings as a gravy.


My favorite. Hope you like too.


Bo aka Mike O'Neil